Jupiter’s moon Europa has fascinated scientists and the public alike ever since Voyager 1 and 2 found the first hints of a global subsurface ocean in 1979. Subsequent studies by other spacecraft confirmed the discovery. They also found that the ocean is salty like oceans on Earth, and potentially habitable, at least for microorganisms. But now, a team of U.S. scientists is throwing some cold water on the prospects for life in Europa’s ocean. They said on March 12, 2024, that there might not be enough volcanic activity on the seafloor to sustain active biology. Is Europa geologically – and otherwise – dead inside?
Austin Green, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, presented the new findings at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2024) in The Woodlands, Texas, earlier this month.
They discussed their two new peer-reviewed LPSC papers, which you can read here and here.
